Before I say I do - episode 9 - by Matilda🪷🫧

The silence stretches until it becomes its own answer.DANIEL: “There it is.” AMARA: “Daniel, wait, let me explain the hesitation.” DANIEL: “I don’t need it explained. I watched it.” AMARA: “You watched one second out of three years. Let me have the other minute.” He folds his arms and says nothing. She takes that as permission. AMARA: “I hesitated because for the first time, someone asked me a question I couldn’t answer on autopilot. Not because of Kemi. Because of everything I haven’t told you.” DANIEL: “Everything?” Amara reaches into her clutch and pulls out her phone. She opens an email, hands it over, and looks away while he reads. DANIEL: (slowly) “Lagos to London. Regional director. Starting in January.” He looks up. “This is dated six weeks ago.” AMARA: “I didn’t accept. But I didn’t decline either. They gave me until the end of the month.” DANIEL: “Which is in four days.” AMARA: “I know.” DANIEL: “You were going to walk down the aisle tomorrow with this in your pocket.” AMARA: “I was going to tell you after the honeymoon. When it was safe.” DANIEL: (a bitter laugh) “Safe. You hear yourself? Marrying me was the safe option?” AMARA: “That came out wrong.” DANIEL: “Did it?” He hands the phone back, and his hand is shaking. Not with rage. Something worse. DANIEL: “So this is the full picture. I called my ex. You went to see yours. And you’ve been holding a plane ticket out of my life this whole time. We didn’t plan a wedding, Amara. We planned a very expensive way of not talking to each other.” AMARA: “That’s not fair.” DANIEL: “Tell me which part isn’t true.” She can’t. Her silence fills the room. He walks to the door, hand on the handle. AMARA: “Where are you going?” DANIEL: “To breathe. To tell my mother something. I don’t know yet.” AMARA: “Please don’t announce anything tonight.” DANIEL: “You don’t get to manage this one.” He leaves. Amara slides down into the chair and covers her face. The corridor outside is empty, the party muffled behind double doors. Daniel leans against the wall, scrubbing his hands over his face. His phone buzzes. An unknown number. “This is Sarah. New line. Don’t block it yet, please. I didn’t come to your door for closure. I came because of what your mother told me.” Daniel frowns, thumb hovering. A second message follows before he can reply: “She called me three weeks ago, Daniel. She asked me to stay away from you. Then yesterday, she called again and told me to come.” Daniel reads it twice. The blood leaves his face. He looks up. At the end of the corridor, half in shadow, Mrs. Okafor stands very still, her phone in her hand, watching him read. She doesn’t look surprised. She looks like someone who’s been caught. MRS. OKAFOR: (softly) “Daniel… let me explain.” Behind him, the office door creaks open. Amara steps out, mascara streaked, just in time to see the look on his face. AMARA: “Daniel? What is it?” He doesn’t answer her. He’s staring at his mother. DANIEL: (barely a whisper) “Mum… did you invite Sarah to my apartment?”

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